Research articles and similar publications, whether disseminated in print or electronically (e.g., in the form of pdf documents), are often associated with author name ambiguity. Such ambiguity often arises because author names are not sufficiently distinct given the large numbers of authors publishing across various disciplines. Author ambiguity is exacerbated by the inconsistent manner in which author names are reported in publications, due to a lack of standards and common practices. For example, different authors may publish under the same name, while the same author could publish under various names due to abbreviations, nicknames, etc. This limits the search and discovery of relevant publications attributable to each individual author.